


Playing with Fire

by WildClover27 (PrairieFlower)



Category: Garrison's Gorillas
Genre: Gen
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2019-12-04
Updated: 2019-12-04
Packaged: 2021-02-26 04:41:00
Rating: Teen And Up Audiences
Warnings: Creator Chose Not To Use Archive Warnings
Chapters: 1
Words: 5,575
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/21667597
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/PrairieFlower/pseuds/WildClover27
Summary: A sudden change in plans has everyone scrambling and results in someone getting injured.
Comments: 3
Kudos: 4





	Playing with Fire

**Author's Note:**

> Non-canon characters are my own and not to be used in other people's stories.

Chapter 1

It was noon when Terry came down the stairs. She glanced at the men in the common room and smiled, noticing the door was open to Craig’s office. Hopefully that meant her brother was back. She bounded down the rest of the stairs and walked into the office. The siblings exchanged looks. Craig picked up the notepad he was writing on and flipped it over. This earned him a sour look from his sister. He shrugged and watched her shut the door behind her.

“You okay?” Garrison asked.

“You talked to Actor,” she said with certainty.

He nodded.

“I guess I’m okay,” she said. Terry sat down in the chair in front of the desk. “Are you okay? You don’t look it.”

“I guess I’m okay,” he parroted back at her.

Terry studied his face. His face was tired, but not a physical tired. His eyes were slightly dull, and his eyebrows were slightly pulled together. “You want to talk?” she asked.

Craig shook his head. “No.”

Terry’s voice was quiet with concern, not anger. “Don’t give me that crap about clearance. You’re into something bad, aren’t you?

Craig nodded. “It’s not something I like, but it has and will yield intelligence we need. I just don’t want to talk about it.”

Terry knew him well enough to read between the lines. “If it’s something you can’t talk to me about, can you at least talk to Actor? You two seem to get along good.”

Craig sighed. “I can’t talk to him either. This is something I have to deal with by myself.”

“Okay, Craig. I don’t like it. It worries me. Just be very, very careful.”

Garrison switched the conversation back to her. “You sure you’re okay? You want to talk about it?”

“No,” she replied. “You seem to have enough on your plate as it is. I have been having nice long talks with Chief about killing people.” She tilted her head and looked at her brother narrowly. “Sometime, Brother, you and I need to have a long talk over a beer about that boy. I’ve got some funny suspicions.”

Craig smiled, “You mean about age and convictions?”

“Yeah,” Terry grinned back. “I’m working on that.”

GGGGG

Garrison only managed a twenty-four-hour respite between his stint in Norway and the group’s next mission. They flew into Belgium with the purpose of obtaining the blueprints for a new type of rocket engine from an engineer’s safe at his estate. The weather had turned decidedly colder and snow had fallen.

The group was holed up in a hunter’s lodge about five miles from the estate they were supposed to breach. Chief was sitting by the window as usual, watching outside through the curtain. He was wearing civilian clothes and fiddling with a driver’s cap in his hand instead of his switchblade. Goniff and Casino were sprawled in chairs at the table. The Englishman was nibbling on bread. Both wore heavy peasant clothes, laced up high boots and had warm jackets. Terry was sitting in a large stuffed chair. She had on a mid-calf length gray wool skirt and a soft pale blue sweater that modestly but effectively showed off her assets. Her feet were covered with fine leather boots. Actor had done wonders with makeup to give her a death-warmed-over look. The confidence man was perched on the arm of her chair, smoking his pipe. He was dressed like an aristocrat with tweed pants, a white linen shirt covered by a vest, and a dark gray jacket. Garrison was pacing the room. He was clothed the same as Casino and Goniff. He took a last inspection of his team before going over the plan one more time.

“Terry,” he said.

The girl smiled and patted Actor’s knee. “Mio morito and I are Nazi sympathizers from France. We are wealthy and being groomed by the Reich to gain our financial support. We are on our way to Brussels and our car breaks down in front of the estate.”

“Mio what?” asked Goniff with a grimace of not understanding.

“Husband, Stupid!” translated Casino. Goniff shrugged.

Craig ignored them. “Actor.”

“We ask for assistance.” His hand patted Terry’s on his knee. “Mia moglia is ill and needs to lie down while our driver tries to fix our car. This gains us access to the house. While we are providing a distraction at the front, you, Casino and Goniff will come in from the woods and gain entry to the back of the house. Teresa and I will keep Dr. Vangriekken occupied while you liberate the plans from the safe and leave the same way you came in. Teresa and I will return to our vehicle and meet you a mile down the road.”

“Chief.”

“I’m the driver. I kill the engine in front of the estate. It takes me an hour to get the engine fixed. I’m from Spain and I don’t speak French, Belgian or German, so I don’t talk. When the hour is up, Actor and Terry will come back to the car and we get outta there.”

“Goniff.” 

“I’m with you and I break us into the bloody house.”

“Casino.”

“I open the safe, what else?” the safecracker said with his usual belligerence. 

Terry smothered a grin. Actor didn’t bother. He just grinned across the room at a smiling Chief.

Plans in place, the group piled into the car Chief had liberated and started down the road. Chief pulled the big car to the side of the road on a curve where woods hid them from the sight of the house. Garrison, Casino and Goniff jumped out and disappeared into the woods. The car proceeded slowly down the road with the Indian tapping the clutch to make the vehicle jerk. He killed the engine in front of the stone wall to the estate and rolled to a stop in front of the wrought iron gates.

Actor took a last look at Teresa. She was sitting beside him, pasty white with dark circles under her eyes thanks to the contents of the Italian’s make up kit. He was satisfied. It looked real except for the grin on her face.

Terry glanced out the window at two guards approaching the gate from the drive. “You’re on, Mon Amour,” she said to Actor.

Chief was already out of the car and had the hood up, tinkering in the engine. Actor got out and approached the Indian. He began to berate him haughtily in Castilian. The guards opened the gate and one stepped up to the car.

Actor walked proudly up to him and asked in French to speak to the owner of the estate. He explained the car had broken down and while he was certain his driver would be able to fix it, he did not know how long it would take. His wife was ill, and he wondered if there was a place they might wait out of the cold until the vehicle was repaired. 

One of the guards trotted up the drive to the house. Actor tapped his fingers against his leg impatiently. He opened the back door of the car and asked Terese, in French, how she was feeling. Terry replied she was cold and tired. She asked if there was not someplace where she could rest and get a glass of water to drink.

It was a few minutes later, the other guard returned with a car. Actor helped his wife out of their vehicle and supported her as she walked weakly to the waiting car. The gates were closed, and Chief was left to his own devices as the obviously aristocratic couple was ferried to the house.

A well-padded, balding, graying man in a tweed suit met them at the open door to the house. He came down the steps at the sight of the wan and frail young woman. He insisted she be brought immediately into the sitting room where there was a warm fire in the fireplace.

Actor introduced them as Antoine and Terese DeGrand. Their host bowed to the young woman and introduced himself as Dr. Vangriekken. Terese asked in French if he was a Doctor of Medicine. He denied gracefully and said he was an engineer. 

Servants brought blankets, pillows and cups of real coffee to the couple. Actor assisted his wife to recline comfortably against pillows on the couch and tenderly tucked blankets around her. Terese ran fingertips down her husband’s cheek in appreciation. She thanked the good doctor for his hospitality and closed her eyes, pretending to fall asleep and allowing Actor to weave his con with the man.

Chapter 2

At the back of the house, Goniff managed to open the window and bypass the alarm system. Garrison went through the window first, followed by Casino and the pickpocket. The man’s study was larger than the common room at the mansion and richly decorated with tapestries and oil paintings hanging on dark paneled walls. Craig moved to the double wooden doors and opened one silently just a crack. The hall was empty. Casino was already working on the safe. Goniff took Garrison’s place and Craig looked at the papers on the table while waiting for Casino to get the safe open. He chewed on his cheek at what he found. There were blueprints and a small wooden mockup of the new engine. The engineer had obviously been working when Actor and Terry had arrived. There was too much to carry and they could not afford to leave any behind.

Casino opened the safe and stepped back. He took over the watch at the door, while the lieutenant went through the contents of the safe. He took the notebooks and turned back to the table. Casino shut the safe and wiped it down. He watched Garrison warily. The man had that ‘aha’ look on his face that boded no good.

Craig worked quickly, folding up blueprints and shoving them inside his shirt and handing more to Goniff to do the same. He shot a glance at the safecracker. “Casino,” he whispered. “Can you torch this place?”

He knew it! The Warden just couldn’t do anything simple. Casino looked around and spotted a heavily stocked liquor cabinet. “Yeah, I can do it.”

“Good,” said Garrison, “get started.”

Goniff was busy stuffing papers in his shirt. He looked at the lieutenant with concern. “Warden, wot about Actor and Terry?”

“Actor will get them out of there.”

Casino muttered to himself in his mind. Rotten waste of good alcohol if you asked him, but of course, nobody was askin’ him. And the Warden was somethin’ else. If it was his sister in the house he was about to burn up, he wouldn’t be so unconcerned about it. The demolitions expert started opening bottles and spraying whiskey, vodka, brandy, cognac and rum around the room and on anything wood. A built-in bookcase full of books got the treatment too. Casino kept one bottle back and stuffed his pocket handkerchief down into the neck. He loved Molotov cocktails.

Garrison grabbed the wooden mockup and stuffed it in Casino’s shirt, to the man’s sour look. The three men climbed back out the window. Casino held the bottle away from him and lit the cloth with his lighter. With a shake of his head, he tossed it into the room. Flames immediately started spreading through the trails of alcohol. The men, watching for guards, sprinted for the woods.

In the sitting room, Actor and the doctor heard the sound of breaking glass from somewhere toward the back of the house. Terry pretended to be asleep, but she was wondering what was going on.

The engineer called for one of the man servants to check it out. It didn’t take long for them to know what was happening. Casino was just as expert with arson as he was with cracking safes. Smoke began rolling down the halls.

“Merde,” said Actor in angry surprise. The Warden was improvising again.

Terry’s eyes flew open at the first whiff of smoke. “What is happening?” she asked in fear, maintaining the French language.

“Fire!” exclaimed the engineer. “My work!” he exclaimed in horror, starting toward the hallway.

Gunshots rang out from the grounds. Terry was on her feet, to the side and a little behind the big Italian. Vangriekken spun around seeing how quickly the sick woman had moved and pointed at Actor. “You! You are saboteurs!” The Belgian lunged toward his desk, yanking open the top drawer and pulling out a pistol. Actor’s gun was already in his hand. He never hesitated as he shot the man, killing him.

Actor whirled and grabbed Teresa by the arm. He propelled them out the French doors to the garden. Terry pulled her arm away from him and lifted her skirts to run behind him. They headed for the woods. There was much confusion as the estate staff ran, trying to get water buckets and anything to put the fire out. They might not have paid much attention if the man had been alone, but the woman with him was a dead giveaway. Two men gave chase, certain they would catch them as they could not hide their footprints in the snow.

Chief looked up at the first sound of gunfire. Something was going wrong. He spotted Actor and Terry running for the woods. Slamming the hood down on the car, he jumped behind the wheel and started up the big engine. The Indian drove down the road in the direction that the con man and woman were fleeing.

Reaching the woods, Actor plunged into the underbrush with Terry on his heels. He looked around and led her crashing through tree branches and brush in the direction of the road. The sound of pursuit caught up with them. Actor slid behind a tree, grabbing Teresa’s arm and swinging her behind him. She leaned back against the tree as Actor watched around the side for their pursuers. A few seconds later two of the estate guards emerged with guns ready. They spotted the tall man, stopping to aim.

Chapter 3

Chief was unpleasantly surprised when he came abreast of two trucks and a staff car filled with Krauts. They blocked his way, forcing him to stop. The Indian swallowed hard and tried to figure out what Actor would do in this situation. He didn’t speak Kraut.  
A corporal came up to his window. The German asked him where he was going. Chief just looked at him and made a gesture that he didn’t understand. Taking a chance, Chief said something in the little Mexican he knew. The corporal looked at him puzzled. The fear on the Indian’s face wasn’t a con. He pointed to himself and then down the road. The corporal tried to speak to him again. Chief shook his head. He looked back in the direction he had come from and mimicked a gun being fired and an explosion.

The officer in the back of the staff car was impatient to get to the estate. He told his corporal to get back in the car. The German motioned Chief to go on. Chief smiled, and in a voice sounding like he was thanking the man, he called him something impolite in border Mexican. He pulled out, hoping to get away before they changed their minds.

Garrison, Casino and Goniff were tearing through the woods. There were patches of snow in the dips and no place to hide three of them. They headed for the far crossroads, confident that Chief would be there somewhere with a vehicle. Casino had shot their two pursuers just after they had gained the cover of the woods. The men paused and looked to their left as they heard gunshots in the distance.

“That better be Actor’s gun,” said Casino. He didn’t want to think what would happen if the con man and the girl got caught.

Craig would not show his concern, but inside he was scared for his sister. Garrison placed a lot of trust in the older con man to take care of her. He motioned the two men on.

GGG

Terry peeked around the opposite side of the tree. Actor was still standing in front of her. The two guards were down. The Italian shot a look at Teresa. She nodded and they took off again. Both wondered what had become of the other members of their team but did not have time to dwell on it. Actor led them on a diagonal path toward the road. He kept an eye on the girl. Even hindered by the dress, she was pushing through the undergrowth alongside him, leaping dips and fallen branches. The young woman had palle he had to admit to himself.

They had almost reached the road, when Actor threw himself to the ground, grabbing Terry’s arm and yanking her down beside him. She skidded on her knees before falling flat. They watched silently and without moving as a German staff car and two trucks with troops passed in front of them. Terry watched the con man as the vehicles disappeared down the road. He got up, held a hand down and pulled her up, and led them back into the woods. They began paralleling the road, moving slower and quieter now. There was no sign of the car. They hoped the Indian was all right and not dead in the ditch somewhere.

Chief came up on the back of a covered supply truck, stopped by the side of the road. He slowly pulled past it and went around a curve in the road. Pulling the big car off into the ditch, he got out and hurriedly made his way silently back toward the truck. There were two men. One was smoking a cigarette with his back to the Indian. The other man went into the woods with the seeming purpose to relieve himself. Chief intercepted him and got him with his switchblade. He retrieved the blade and wiped it on the man’s shirt. Making his way back to the truck just as silently, he threw the knife and took out the other man. Chief waited for a minute to see if there were anymore. Satisfied, he retrieved his blade a second time and helped himself to the pistol stuck in the man’s waistband. He dragged the body off into the woods and left it beside his partner. A quick look in the back of the truck showed some boxes and nothing more. With a scan of the road, Chief got into the truck and started forward. He pulled over behind the car and stopped. The car was moved into the ditch behind some tall bushes. Chief got their bags out of the trunk and put them in the back of the truck. Getting behind the wheel, he drove slowly on to the crossroads and turned right.  
The two trucks of Wehrmacht soldiers unloaded, and the men scattered going through the woods in search of the people who had destroyed the rocket plans and killed the man behind them. They did not move slowly or quietly.

Garrison, Goniff and Casino made it to the road. They were a little north of the crossroads, so they eased down through the woods, just inside the tree line. A short hike brought them to the supply truck. They hid behind trees to watch. Chief had spotted them coming and now motioned them to come on. Goniff climbed in the back. Garrison and Casino climbed into the front.

“You seen Terry and Actor?” asked Garrison.

Chief shook his head. “They’ll be along,” he said.

“Yeah, if that wasn’t them getting shot back there,” said Casino cynically.

“Knock it off,” said Craig sharply. The thought was in his mind, but he didn’t need the safecracker putting it into words.

Chief started the truck up. They waited.

Terry was running along several yards behind Actor as they headed through the woods toward the road. Being behind him caused her to see the soldier step out from behind a tree with a machine gun, where Actor couldn’t see. The soldier was bringing the gun up to fire.

“Actor!”

Chapter 4

Terry launched herself through the air as though she were playing football with her brothers. She tackled the big man from behind and they both hit the ground as gunfire sounded. Terry rolled one way and Actor the other. Actor raised his arm and fired his pistol, taking down the soldier. He looked to the girl, but she was already getting to her feet. He followed suit, his long legs taking him ahead of her again. He reached a hand back to her. When she didn’t take it, he made sure she was still with him and kept running. He didn’t see the red spots appearing on the snow behind her.

They reached the truck as it started to pull away. Terry flung herself onto the floor of the truck and scrabbled over to the side. Actor did the same on the other side. Both sat against the sides of the truck breathing hard.

Goniff was standing closer to Terry, watching the road. He thought he heard the snick of a switchblade and turned to look for the sound. He saw Terry with her right arm crossed in front of her, blood dripping from her fingers. She had her jacket off and was trying to cut her bloody sweater sleeve with her knife.

“Blimey Lady! Tell somebody when you’re ‘it,” he exclaimed.

Actor’s head shot in her direction.

“I’m okay,” said Terry shakily, trying to manage one handed.

Actor was up and over to her in two strides. He took the knife from her and slit the sleeve from above the wound to the wrist. Goniff dug in their duffle bag and slid the aid kit over to the Italian. He cleaned the wound with water from the canteen, dusted it with sulfa and bandaged it tightly. Terry watched his hands the whole time.

“Thanks,” she said when he was done.

“Why didn’t you say something before?” asked Actor.

“Way I was brought up,” she replied. “On a ranch, you get hurt, you finish what you’re doing and then you take care of it.”

To her surprise he placed two fingers under her chin and lifted her face to look at her. There was wonder and concern on his face. “When did you get hit?”

“That last one you shot,” replied Terry.

“You could have been killed pulling a stunt like that,” he admonished gently.

Terry gave a shrug, “Better my arm than you. Besides, I was behind you, so I was supposed to be covering your back, wasn’t I?”

Actor wasn’t sure how to respond to that coming from the girl, especially since she wasn’t carrying a gun. “Thank you.”

“You would do the same for me,” she said.

Goniff squatted down beside them. Actor’s hand dropped away.

“She okay?” asked the Englishman.

“I’m fine.”

Both men chuckled. Goniff grinned broadly, “You can tell she’s the Warden’s sister.” Terry looked at him questioningly. “That’s the Warden’s answer, no matter ‘ow many bullets ‘e’s got in ‘im.”

Terry leaned back against the wall of the truck. The wound burned, but it was lessening with the dressing on it. She glanced at the con man. He was watching her with an unreadable expression. God, she wished he’d quit doing that. She hated when she couldn’t read what he was thinking.

“’Ow’d you get ‘it?” asked the Cockney.

“She knocked me down to keep me from getting shot,” said the con man still wondering.

“I was keeping him from making a touchdown,” teased Terry. At Actor’s quizzical look, she said, “We played a lot of football when we were kids.”

“You must have played rough,” remarked Goniff, wondering how she could have brought the Italian down. Actor was wondering the same thing.

“We did,” replied Terry.

They drove for another half hour before pulling off down a dirt track and hid the truck in the woods. The snow was gone here, and the dirt was dry, making it harder for anyone following them to find them.

Goniff helped Terry to the back of the truck where Actor could pick her up and lift her to the ground. She thanked them both and walked around the truck while they retrieved their bags from the back. Craig was standing by the open front door, studying the map her had laid out on the seat.

“We have to walk in from here,” he said absently to his sister.

“Okay,” she said.

He glanced at her and saw her jacket draped over her right shoulder. He lifted the edge of jacket back to see the bloody bandage on her arm. “Oh, for cryin’ out loud, Terry,” he exclaimed more in concern than anger.

“I’m sorry,” she said. 

“Can’t you be more careful?” He checked the dressing. “Bullet out?”

“It went through.”

Craig shook his head, turning away so she wouldn’t see how scared he was.

“I’m sorry,” she repeated more adamantly, thinking he was angry.

Actor walked around the corner of the truck just then and heard her words. He approached briskly. “Excuse me, Lieutenant, but your sister was hit preventing me from being shot in the back.”

Craig’s head whipped around, and he stared at Terry. She shrugged her good shoulder. Garrison looked at his second and saw the same expression of surprise and uncertainty as he felt. “Scheiße,” he said for lack of a better word. He picked up the map and walked away.

Actor patted her arm, “It’s all right.” He followed Garrison.

Casino walked up with a smile, “Hey Babe, don’t worry about it. He ain’t mad. We all been shot. If he got mad every time one of us got hit, he’d be mad all the time.”

Terry was trying to comprehend that remark. She laid her hand on Casino’s shoulder. “Thank you, Casino. I don’t think anybody but you could have put it in quite that perspective.”

“Anytime, Babe.”

Chapter 5

They walked single file through the woods toward the field where the plane was to pick them up. Craig kept sending stealthy glances back at his sister. She was holding her own just fine. Casino and Actor had her between them. Somewhere along the line the two men seemed to have appointed themselves as her protectors. After a couple miles, they reached the edge of the field. It would be another twenty minutes before the plane was scheduled to arrive.

Terry stood alongside of a tree with her brother. Her arm was throbbing dully, just an annoying reminder of the injury. Craig watched her out of the corner of his eyes while she studied Actor from a distance. Garrison lit a cigarette and took a puff. Terry leaned her shoulder against his and held two fingers of her left hand up in a V. Craig held the cigarette out to her. She accepted it and took a long drag before handing it back to him. Their conversation was quiet after Terry slowly blew the smoke out away from her brother.

“Dang, that man has a pair of legs,” said Terry admiring the view. “Like a freakin’ gazelle.”

Garrison shot an exasperated look at her.

“You know,” she said, “I’ve brought down you and Monty and Kelly before when we used to play football. When I hit him, I thought I was going to bounce off.”

The corners of Garrison’s mouth tipped into an amused smile. “Six foot four and solid muscle. I’m surprised you did knock him down.”

Terry shook her head. Garrison held the cigarette in front of her and she took another drag.

“You two getting along any better when I’m not there?” asked Craig.

“Yeah, the last one went better,” said Terry. 

“What’s the big problem?”

Terry shrugged. “It’s probably me. Sometimes he looks at me with that look and it makes me feel like I can’t do anything right.”

Craig chuckled. “I’ve been on the receiving end of that a couple times. He does have a whole lot more experience than we do.” He took a good look at his sister. Her face was still pasty, and the eyes were dark circled. “You look like crap,” he said. “Is that you or Actor?”

“Well seeing as I can’t see myself, I’d hazard a guess to say it’s Actor. I know who to go to on Halloween,” she joked. She wasn’t about to let her brother know she felt like crap right now. The adrenalin was wearing off. “I’m going to go find me a nice tree until that plane gets here.”

Garrison watched her stroll across the clearing to another tree and sink down to the base of it. He stood and smoked and watched the interaction between her and his men. Goniff walked over and squatted down beside her. They talked for a bit, Terry smiling. He got up and went back to watching the perimeter. A couple minutes later, Casino took his place beside the woman. He took off his neckerchief and tied the ends together, slipping it over her head and helping her place her wrist in it. Terry’s hand reached out and squeezed the safecracker’s arm and she spoke to him with a smile. Next was Actor. He examined the dressing on her arm. They spoke a bit more seriously. Terry reached out with her good hand, caught the con man’s and squeezed it too. He nodded at her.

Actor made his way over to the Lieutenant. Craig eyed the medical person in their group with question. “She says she’s okay. Is that makeup or her?”

“Mostly makeup, a small bit of her,” acknowledged the Italian. The wound is not terribly bad.”

“How did she do with the con?” Garrison asked.

“Very well,” replied Actor. “She is becoming quite skilled. She still has a problem going in and out of it in the beginning, but when we have time to prepare her, she is fine. She is even taking unscheduled changes in plans without difficulty.” The last was said with a bit of a barb at the man who had changed the plans.

Actor cast a glance at the woman who was leaning back against the tree with her eyes closed. She was progressing well with the confidence game. He was even beginning to enjoy working with her. Actor mentally frowned. He had worked with partners before and for the most part had not enjoyed it. He wondered if the difference had to do with gender. He hoped not. It would mean he was considering her as a woman and not as the generic ‘Warden’s Sister.’ Most of the time that was easy to do as she tended to wear trousers, a new habit he did not find attractive in women. Actor studied the girl. She was wearing a skirt and sweater, sitting with her legs tucked to the side beneath her. She had a trim figure and nice legs that were enticing when one could see them. Though now, the skirt was torn, the nylons shredded, and the knees abraded from his jerking her to the ground. Put heels on her and she came to perfect height against his tall frame. Merda! What was the matter with him? He pushed that train of thought aside and lit a cigarette.

The plane landed on schedule and they quickly boarded it. It was a smaller plane, but they still had to sit on side benches, knees almost touching. Goniff found a blanket to cover Terry with. She took it with appreciation.

They were halfway to England when Terry suddenly fixed the Lieutenant with a hard look. “By the way, Dearest Brother of Mine,” she started.

Craig looked up at her, startled out of his concentration on how to word his report. He didn’t like the look in Terry’s eye.

“Just what was that back there? I don’t remember trying to burn us up being in your plan. You might warn a person first.”

Actor chewed on a thumbnail to hide a grin. Chief concentrated on fiddling with his blade. Goniff watched between the siblings to see if there was going to be trouble. It was Casino who answered sarcastically.

“Oh, you haven’t been on a mission with him when he has to throw a monkey wrench into the works. He can’t just leave well enough alone, can you, Warden?”

“Casino, can it,” said Craig. “There was too much information there. We had to destroy it. It’ll take the good doctor a while to get his project back to where it was.”

“It’ll take a little longer than that,” said Terry sarcastically, “considering the man is dead.”

Craig looked at Terry and shot a sharp look at his second. Actor shrugged elegantly.

“He did not appreciate his office and work being set on fire. He seemed to somehow think Teresa and I were involved.”

Terry swallowed a laugh, appreciating the con man’s reply as much as Casino’s.

“You must admit, Warden,” continued Actor. “You seem to derive a great deal of pleasure from finding something you can add on to a mission.”

Terry could not suppress a snort of laughter. Neither could the cons. Garrison eyed them all narrowly. 

“Knock it off, all of you,” he said.

After a moment, his frown twitched into a small grin.


End file.
